Here's What Happened: How Natalie Rescued Monk

By

Joanne Kaufman

Updated Jan. 8, 2009 11:59 p.m. ET

Traylor Howard would like a hand-sanitizing wipe please. As her TV boss would put it, here's what happened: She's spent four seasons as the voice of reason and the calm center for the unreasonable, off-center, hygiene-wracked title character on the hit series "Monk." New episodes begin on the USA network tomorrow.

"We're always joking about it, everyone right down to the crew. You get very aware of the whole wipe situation," said Ms. Howard, 42. "I seem to run into people all the time now who aren't crazy about shaking hands."

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But surely they'd make an exception for the winsome Ms. Howard, who appeared in some so-so sitcoms ("Boston Common," "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place," "Bram and Ali") before signing on to "Monk." She plays spunky Natalie Teeger, a single mother suddenly required to play Watson to a shaky Sherlock Holmes (Tony Shalhoub), a man whose tics, however infuriating in daily life, are tremendously useful in figuring out whodunit.

"Natalie is the audience's way into the show," said Mr. Shalhoub in a phone interview. "She's the one grounded character surrounded by odd people. Traylor has been a godsend," he added. "She can give you so many different colors."

Ms. Howard's casting was a variation on the understudy-to-the-rescue bit. Midway through the series' third season, audience favorite Bitty Schram, who played Monk's no-nonsense nurse/assistant Sharona, made a precipitous departure. Reportedly, there was a contract dispute. "At the time I was developing my own series -- so when my manager said 'get in on this,' I resisted," said Ms. Howard of the "Monk" audition. "I didn't want to get sidetracked. But he said: 'Go. It's good show.'"

In fact, she'd never seen the series, a lapse that became clear when she read for the creative team. "I think it was the way I was pronouncing the names of the characters," she recalled with a laugh. They said, 'Take a DVD and look at some episodes.' I watched and thought, 'Wow, this is good.' I'd never been on an hour show. I'd never played that sort of drama-comedy thing."

She got the job as Monk's aide-de-camp and partner in crime-solving. She also got a cool welcome from a certain number of fans who were no more fond of change than the troubled Adrian Monk himself. "People would say to me 'I really didn't want to like you,'" said Ms. Howard, who understands that they were protective of the show and protective of Monk. "He can be very mean to me. But if I say one little thing to him, people react. When you think about it, he's very selfish. But he gets away with it."

She won over the doubters -- and the detective -- blending firmness with palpable sympathy for Monk's myriad quirks and phobias (to germs, to heights, to asymmetry, to milk; the list goes on). "Sharona was a nurse, so the relationship was more a medical thing and she was a little hard on him," said Ms. Howard. "With Natalie, I think Monk has grown a little more. He's still living in black and white, but it's not quite so extreme. He's gotten out there in the world a little bit, which I think is interesting."

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However tricky it is to replace a popular cast member, according to Ms. Howard, it's a breeze compared to building a series from scratch. "There are so many elements to get a show up and running," she said. "To walk into an already established one that keeps winning awards and is critically acclaimed -- I found it much easier. Also, I was sort of clueless about how popular Bitty was. Thank God, some chip in my brain was missing."

"I will always be grateful to Traylor because she came in when the show was in crisis and saved our baby," said Andy Breckman, "Monk"'s co-creator and executive producer. "We had to make a hurried replacement, and not every show survives that. I was scared to death.

"The challenge was to find someone who the audience would love not next week or in four weeks, but immediately. There was no margin for error," he continued. "She came to bat and hit it out of the park. We wouldn't be here without Tony -- and we wouldn't be here without Traylor."

The second of three children, Ms. Howard grew up in Orlando, Fla., "the prissiest tomboy," according to her mother, whose maiden name was Traylor. She was a runner, a tennis player and was "sort of obsessed with Brooke Shields. I thought what she did looked like fun," recalled Ms. Howard, who as a high-school student signed on with a local talent agency that cast her in a Juicy Fruit gum commercial.

Despite such beginner's luck, Ms. Howard planned on a career in advertising, heading to Los Angeles after college only to follow an actor boyfriend. "He was doing commercials and I saw how much fun he was having and I thought, 'I'll try that.' I was happy doing commercials, and then I started studying acting and got hooked."

Ms. Howard, who is twice divorced and, like Natalie, a single mother, characterizes herself as a quiet success. "I've been on television for a long time now. But because I'm not drawn to doing a lot of publicity, people still perceive me as being a fresh face, which makes me feel good." That low profile made it possible for her to date George Clooney without attracting much attention from the paparazzi or People magazine.

"I'm a below-the-radar girl. No one really knows anything about me," Ms. Howard said, adding of Mr. Clooney: "He's everything you think he would be -- a funny man, a smart man. It was a sweet little interlude."

"Monk" fans, of course, probably care next to nothing about Ms. Howard's romance with Mr. Clooney. They're far too busy speculating on the possibility of a romance between Natalie and Adrian, what with the series heading into its final season this summer. "I think there are a lot of different opinions on that one," said Ms. Howard. "Some people want it and others can't envision it. I don't know if I can. But it's hard for me to imagine them without each other."

Ms. Kaufman writes about culture, the arts and creative personalities for the Journal.

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